World War II lasted for six years, spanned Europe, Africa, Japan, Russia and the US, and involved most countries including the colonies. No matter how much you read about this war, it is almost impossible to visualize the simultaneous battles and battle strategies developing on different continents involving countries on either side.
Lost Destiny by Alan Axelrod is a detailed account of a part of World War II. Actually, it is about the war from the perceptive of the Kennedy family, and Joe Kennedy Jr. to be specific. But the author covers almost every major development during this time and all the major characters that touched and shaped life of Joe Kennedy Jr.
Lost Destiny: Joe Kennedy Jr. and the Doomed WWII Mission to Save London
Author: Alan Axelrod Pages: 304 pages Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Trade (May 19, 2015) ISBN: 1137279044, 978-1137279040
The war, of course, doesn’t enter Joe Kennedy’s life until after graduation from Harvard. The author covers the Kennedy brothers’, Joe and John, childhood and college years. The fierce competition among the brothers, partly encouraged by their father, marks most of their growing years. Jack although smart and successful in almost all spheres of activities, had tough time keeping up with his brother Joe and stay in the good books of his father.
We all know of the charismatic 35th President of the United States. But life wasn’t all that easy for Jack as a boy, who suffered a weak constitution and was overshadowed by achievement of the older brother in school. Joe was the popular and the smart one. Ahead in academia, sports, and extremely popular among his peers, Joe posed a constant challenge and inspired fierce competition among the brothers.
This competition never diminished, even when they were miles apart and fighting for their country. Some might even say that Joe Kennedy’s drive to be one up in the military career drove him to make reckless choices that endangered his life multiple times.
We will never know if it was this competition or some conflict with his father that drove Joe to prove himself in the Navy and volunteer for that fateful mission. A number of men and women gave their life in the war. But Joe, while he could easily use his father’s influence to get a desk job, chose to stay at the front lines. On the contrary, on the morning of that day in August, he used whatever influence he could to be a part of the mission that had very good chance of claiming his life.
The reader will get a look into the Kennedy brothers’ life and childhood. But the author gives equal pages to the arms race that World War II triggered, and how the allies struggled to gain an upper hand against Germany. The intricate details of the challenges faced by the Generals and Scientists, and the desperation that lead them to try out half-baked solutions are testament of the motivation of the allies to keep democracy alive and their resolve to stop Hitler.